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Los Angeles Times
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
High School Roundup: Sage Hill girls' soccer to host regional final
The Sage Hill girls' soccer team has walked a tightrope for much of the postseason, and that theme has continued this week. Freshman Capri Hall scored on a penalty kick, as the Lightning struck in extra time for a 1-0 victory over visiting Santa Maria on Thursday to advance to the CIF State Southern California Regional Division IV final. Senior Cambria Thomas earned the penalty-kick chance for top-seeded Sage Hill (13-3-3), which will host La Mirada (13-8-6) in the championship game on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Lightning prevailed over the Matadors in penalty kicks a week ago after the sides failed to produce a goal through regulation and overtime in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 title game. Four of the past five matches have gone past regulation for Sage Hill, with three of those being decided in a penalty-kick shootout. El Centro Central 2, Laguna Beach 1: Seniors Mishel Villanueva and Joseph Rosas scored for the visiting Spartans on Thursday in a CIF State Southern California Regional Division IV semifinal. Senior Nayan Martlin scored for Laguna Beach (16-5-5), which was the CIF Southern Section Division 4 champion. Senior Max Garner drew the assist for the Breakers, who also won the Pacific Coast League title this season. Central (26-2-4) will travel to take on top-seeded Carlsbad Pacific Ridge (22-2-3) in the regional final on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Los Angeles Times
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach girls' water polo back on CIF pedestal after sudden-death win
WALNUT — Presley Jones and Kara Carver were senior leaders all season for the Laguna Beach High girls' water polo team. It was appropriate, then, that they were both involved in a huge play with a CIF Southern Section championship on the line Saturday afternoon. Sophomore teammate Liv Taub had drawn an offensive foul on San Clemente in the Division 1 title game at Mt. San Antonio College. Carver suddenly took off down the pool, and Jones passed it to her on the counterattack. Carver earned a penalty shot and Jones put it away into the upper-left corner, lifting the Breakers to a 10-9 victory in the first sudden-death overtime period. It's Laguna Beach's eighth CIF championship, and first since 2020. 'Such a fitting ending,' said Jones, who scored her fourth goal of the match. 'I've been on the same team as Kara since we were 8, 9 years old. We've spent countless hours in the pool. I saw her on that counterattack, and I knew that she was going to make something happen. To be able to put it away and finish the season like that is really special.' Carver led with a match-high five goals for Laguna Beach (20-11). Goalkeeper Siena Jumani, the third Breakers senior captain, also played a key role as she made eight saves. Coach Katie Teets' Breakers had started the season 0-6, but the Pacific Coast League champions were able to hold up the CIF plaque at the end. Along the way, they won three sudden-death overtime matches, including victories over Foothill and JSerra. Saturday's triumph was the biggest of all. 'It feels really rewarding,' Jumani said. 'At the start, we were all kind of shocked, like, 'I don't know how this season is going to go. We started off so rough, but we worked really hard for it.' Brooke Schneider, a junior, also scored for Laguna Beach. The Breakers took an 8-7 lead late in regulation on Carver's backhand goal, but San Clemente's Hazel Thrash tied it on a power-play strike with 53 seconds left. Phoebe DeMoss, Thrash, Macey Punak and Talyn Pelkey all scored a pair of goals to lead the Tritons (22-8). Jones scored off a foul in the first three-minute overtime period, but Pelkey answered in the second to send the match to sudden death. The Laguna Beach victory happened, well, suddenly. 'That happened so fast,' Teets said. 'I didn't even see Kara up. I was watching Liv, then I look up and Kara already has the lead that she needs. She's just so instinctual … she's a special player.' Carver was able to join her older sisters Rachael and Hannah in bringing a CIF championship to Laguna Beach. She and Jones will be rivals in the future, at USC and UCLA respectively, but first they teamed up for another Breakers title run. Both have played in many USA Water Polo Junior Olympics title matches, Carver said, so they were used to the big stage. 'To me, it was the perfect way to end it,' Carver said. 'I feel like a lot of the season has been us working together, so it was kind of special for us to work together on the last play.'
Los Angeles Times
20-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach boys' soccer edges past Long Beach Poly in CIF quarterfinals
LONG BEACH — Dakota Guzman couldn't contain his excitement at the end of the proceedings on the pitch on Wednesday at Long Beach Poly. The senior midfielder approached Laguna Beach boys' soccer coach Andy Thomas, lifted him in the air, and exclaimed where the team was headed. That destination is the semifinals after the visiting Breakers held on for dear life in the second half of a 2-1 win over the Jackrabbits in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs. 'They bombarded us a little bit the last 10 minutes,' Thomas said. 'They bombarded us.' Laguna Beach (14-5-5) went unscathed, despite Long Beach Poly (10-8-6) pulling numbers forward and even sending its goalkeeper into the box for successive free kicks in the closing seconds. Breakers goalkeeper Cole Anderson made a point-blank save on Roger Juarez, who was left alone for a header in the box in the 63rd minute. Anderson absorbed the initial pace of the shot and caught the ball on a bobble. Another close call came in the 49th minute. Roberto Bermudez fed in a shallow cross from the left wing. Anderson sold out on a dive off his line to stop its progress across the goal. The ball laid precariously out of the reach of Anderson, and Guzman was there to clear it away with the Jackrabbits crashing the net. 'We just played more conservatively,' Guzman said. 'We didn't take any chances. We just played our game. Both of our center backs are pretty solid back there, and with me dropping in and playing conservatively, they really have no chance.' Julian Reichel opened the scoring, all of which occurred in the first half, when he settled down a ball played in behind the defense by left back Jackson Arrasin. 'I tried to get onside initially because I thought I was off, so I tried taking a few steps back, saw the ball go over,' Reichel said. 'I knew I had a chance. I didn't think there was a guy too close to me on my back. I saw the ball bouncing, I checked the goal quickly, and the keeper was on his line, not even close to coming out, so I knew I could take my time.' Poly equalized in the 24th minute on a pretty passing play. Kaya Paz, a driver of possession for the Jackrabbits in the midfield, forced a turnover deep in the attacking third and found Joshua Martinez in the center of the box for the goal. Laguna Beach, the Pacific Coast League champion, answered back via a set piece in the 38th minute. Center back Luke Singer served the ball up to the back post from the right corner flag, and Guzman headed it back across the goal and inside the post for a 2-1 lead. 'It means everything for me, and I think for the team, as well,' Guzman said of the playoff run continuing. 'We set a goal at the beginning of the season to win CIF. We've been building our team up for four years, and I think it's just time. It's really nice to see it all come through at the end of the year, and I'm glad we're here. I'm ready for semifinals.' Nayan Martlin narrowly missed giving the Breakers some breathing room, as his shot hit the left post squarely and stayed out in the 62nd minute. If the celebratory mood of the Breakers was something to behold after advancing to a semifinal date at home against Empire League champion Santa Ana (13-6-2) on Saturday night at 6 p.m., Thomas said it was a scene of pure jubilation in the second round at San Bernardino Indian Springs. Laguna Beach trailed 2-0 in the final five minutes of the game, before Tom Schmidt and Reichel scored to send the game to extra time. Martlin supplied the winner in double overtime. 'It's a bit of a turning point, isn't it?' Thomas said. 'If you know you can come back 2-0 down with five minutes to go, then you know you can do it, don't you? It's a bit of belief.' Singer weighed in on the second-round comeback, too. 'That game was insane,' he said. 'Maybe four minutes left, and we scored both of them off set pieces, so that was a really good win for us.' Also in the CIF Southern Section boys' soccer playoffs: Edison 3, Anaheim Canyon 2: Micah Novak had a goal and an assist for the visiting Chargers on Wednesday in a Division 2 quarterfinal game. Edison (15-4-1), the Sunset League champion, got three unanswered goals — from Novak, Ben Hickman and Oliver Worster — after falling behind 1-0 in the contest. Andrew Mosham made a save in the final minute to preserve the win for Edison, which plays host to Studio City Harvard-Westlake (12-5-2) in a semifinal on Saturday at 5 p.m. Los Amigos 3, Norwalk 3 (LA advances 5-4 on PKs): Erubey Bermudez had two goals and an assist on Wednesday in a Division 5 quarterfinal that could not be decided in regulation or extra time. Jose Vargas also had a goal and an assist for top-seeded Los Amigos (11-5-3), which will travel to take on Compton Dominguez (14-2-2) in the semifinals on Saturday.
Los Angeles Times
10-02-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Prep talk: Cooper Stearns of Irvine has become favorite basketball player among officials
Irvine High won its first league basketball championship since 1991, and its star player, Cooper Stearns, is also known for his golf skills, so much so that officials who work Irvine games are always talking golf with him. 'The referees know,' coach Harry Meussner said. 'They all want to talk to him about golf. Everywhere we go, they're talking about it.' The 6-foot-5 Stearns is averaging 19.5 points and 13 rebounds a game. He's one of the best two-sport athletes in Southern California. In the league championship game, he had 28 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists. Stearns has committed to Stanford for golf, is a three-time Pacific Coast League golf MVP and was MVP in basketball this season. He started playing golf with his father when he was 6. 'We would play at 6:30 in the morning on weekends at Santa Ana Country Club,' his father, Alan, said. 'He also played basketball the entire time.' While Cooper now outdrives his father in golf, he still hasn't passed him in the height department — his father is 6-6. It's been a dream season in basketball for Irvine, which is 26-2 and set to host Desert Christian Academy in a Southern Section Division 3AA playoff opener on Wednesday. . 'Everyone has put in their best work,' Meussner said of his team. 'We've really clicked. We've been consistent in a surreal way.' Just don't expect anyone in the Irvine program to challenge Stearns to a chipping match. One time it happened, everyone was excited. 'The rest of us were having fun,' he said. 'Everyone chipped it up close. He stepped up and got it within two.' Lesson learned. Don't challenge Stearns in golf or basketball. This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email
